1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aluminum alloy material for making a shutter which opens and closes an opening which permits the head access to a recording medium cassette accommodating a micro floppy disk, magneto-optic disk, or optical disk capable of digital recording and reproduction. The present invention relates also to a process for producing said aluminum alloy material and a shutter made of said aluminum alloy material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A magnetic disk (such as micro floppy disk) for computers is encased in a recording medium cassette made of plastic. Another recording medium of the magnetic type, electrostatic type, or optical type is also encased in a cassette. The cassette has an opening which permits the access of the medium to the head (such as a magnetic head). The opening is closed and opened by a slide shutter. The shutter is designed to close the opening to protect the recording medium (disk) when the cassette is not in use after removal from the equipment.
The shutter has been made chiefly of stainless steel or polymeric synthetic resin. Other minor materials include anodized or colored aluminum or aluminum alloy.
Stainless steel shutters have a disadvantage of lacking affinity for printing ink. Hence they cause printed letters to drop off easily due to their poor adhesion property to printing ink. In addition, they involve difficulties in coloring by over-all coating or any other surface treatment; they merely permit letter printing. Therefore, they look poorer than colorful cassettes made of plastic.
Plastic shutters are also poor in printability and need pretreatment such as corona discharge prior to printing. In addition, they have a poor dimensional accuracy and are liable to thermal deformation and static build-up. Static build-up attracts dust and adversely affects the recording medium.
Making the shutter from an aluminum material such as AA5052 alloy and H38 (quenched and tempered material) has been proposed. Aluminum shutters, however, are not strong enough. Moreover, aluminum without a surface finish is easily stained with fingerprints, which cause corrosion. Improvement in corrosion resistance requires anodizing or coloring, which add to the manufacturing steps.